Ertel Construction recently mobilized overhead power line crews to Arkansas in support of the power restoration efforts due to the ice storm that devastated the state on December 25, 2012. At the peak of the storm, Entergy Arkansas reported close to 300,00 outages. The Ertel crews were mobilized from North Carolina and South Carolina with minimal notice. The crews reached the hardest hit area of Pulaski County Arkansas in less than 48 hours from time of mobilization. The crews worked in cold, wet conditions to restore power in difficult terrain. Entergy Arkansas reported that 99 percent of the power restoration efforts were completed by the morning of January 1, 2013.

The LCUU meeting was held on November 7, 2012 in North Charleston. Josh Black, with Ertel Construction, will serve as the Secretary of LUCC in the coming year and will communicate with other public utilities regarding damage prevention.

Ertel Construction, Inc was also the recipient of the 2012 Contractor of the Year for damage prevention in South Carolina. Congratulations ERTEL!

Ertel Construction continues to provide power restoration in New Jersey after the Nor’easter storm hit the area on Wednesday, November 7, 2012. At least 658,000 utility customers remained without electricity across the region, most of them in New York and New Jersey. The New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, told reporters Thursday morning that the nor’easter was responsible for 167,000 new outages, but praised utility workers who were trying to get the lights and heat back on. Christie said “These men and women on the utility companies are working 16-hour days.”

In October, just a day after Hurricane Sandy, our crews were fully engaged in storm restoration in the hardest hit areas of Northern Virginia assisting Dominion Power. Power was restored to all customers and then Ertel’s crew’s moved north to provide restoration to other utility customers.

Hurricane Sandy compared to land was about the size of Texas, a massive storm in diameter. The strength of the storm set a record for barometric pressure. The approach of the storm combined with the strength produced major storm surges to New York City where the harbor reported a record level 32 foot waves.

Ertel Construction, Inc. in the news. Click on the link below to read the newspaper article:

Ertel crews were mobilized on August 28th to support power restoration efforts in Mississippi and Louisiana in support of Hurricane Isaac power restoration. Ertel crews were sent to support Entergy in Metro East New Orleans, LA and four Ertel crews were sent to support Entergy in McComb, MS. The crews in Metro East New Orleans work to restore power for the Lower 9th Ward district. The district had 100 percent power outage when the Ertel crews began their restoraration efforts. The crews replaced numerous damaged poles, transformers, and fuses. After only two days of work power was restored to 50 percent of the customers. After four days of work, 100 percent of the lower 9th ward customers power was restored. After the power was restored, Ertel crews did preventive maintenance work prior to completion of the storm restoration.

A severe summer storm called a Derecho hit the mid-Atlantic states in June causing major power outages. A Derecho (Spanish for straight) is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo – (Wikipedia). Ertel Construction, Inc. currently has crews mobilized to aid in the restoration of power due to the severe storms on June 29th . Ertel’s crews worked diligently to restore power in the hardest hit areas of West Virginia during times of record heat. Our crews are working for FirstEnergy company Potomac Edison in the West Virginia counties of Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Mineral, and Morgan. Ertel also has crews working for AEP company Appalachian Power in the West Virginia counties of Fayette, Kanawha, and Raleigh. The crews will continue to work through the holiday weekend until all power has been restored in these locations.

Ertel Contruction, Inc., has continued to provide public utility construction to a Fortune 500 company since 1980, which includes all aspects of overhead, underground, natural gas and boring construction.

We have established other continuous relationships with Municipalities and Cooperatives since that time as well in the Southeast.

We have now expanded our base to West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee providing Overhead Power Utility Maintenance to that area.

During the Ice Storms of 2011 and early 2012 our crews provided restoration services to North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania with flawless restoration of utilities. By partnering with other utility companies we restored outages to thousands of customers.

Ertel Construction, Inc., established a Storm Management Team to facilitate our fleet in moving safely to the areas with widespread outages. As soon as crews arrive to the assigned area, a safety assessment is conducted to insure public safety and that all provisions are in place to insure the safety of our crew. This daily safety assessment is the crew starting point of each day on any job.

Texas and Louisiana

In late 2008, Ertel Construction, Inc., responded to Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike, which had left Texas and Louisiana reeling after striking the Gulf Coast in quick succession. Hurricane Ike struck a devastating blow to the upper Texas Gulf coast just two weeks after Hurricane Ike hit. The local energy company faced widespread outages across much of its service territory and knew it could count on Ertel Construction’s experienced crews to deal with the significant service issues.

Kentucky and West Virginia

When customers’ power went out during the ice storms of early 2009, the leading energy companies in Kentucky and West Virginia turned to Ertel Construction, Inc., to ensure quick and safe restoration. At the height of the Kentucky storm, over one-third of all electric customers in the state were without electricity, requiring a massive response. The storm caused the most-widespread outages on record in the state of Kentucky. In West Virginia, thousands of customers also found themselves without power due to downed lines. Ertel crews were integral members of the electric companies’ disaster response teams.

In recent months, one of the nation’s leading broadband video and data companies has entrusted Ertel Construction with Installation of fiber-optic cable in its service territory, bringing improved video and data services to its customers. This customer has long worked with Ertel. Additionally, Ertel Construction is currently providing services to other fiber optic companies and is working on several government projects providing utility services.